Although the tough-as-nails Glover Teixeira went five rounds and forced a decision against Jon Jones in their UFC 172 bout, it looked more like target practice than a fight for the light heavyweight champion.
Bones laid it on early and often on Saturday, bloodying the face of Teixeira and knocking out his mouthpiece on several occasions.
By the end of the fight, Teixeira was hurt badly and couldn’t come close to keeping pace with Jones.
During a post-fight press conference with the Associated Press, via ESPN.com, Teixeira remarked that Jones was simply the better fighter:
“I did my strategy. My strategy was to try and push him—try to hit him with hooks. But hey, he capitalized. He beat me.”
Jones did beat him—in decisive fashion.
Bones now holds a 20-1 record—with his lone blemish coming in the form of a disqualification for throwing illegal downward elbows—and successfully defended his title seven times.
Needless to say, Jones is performing above and beyond all light heavyweight competition. He looks unbeatable, and in this weight class, he may be.
It only seems appropriate the 205-pound Jones adds some bulk and heads to the heavyweight realm.
Standing at 6’4″ with an impressive 84.5″ reach, it’s easy to speculate Jones could do some major damage.
Obviously, this is something that won’t happen immediately—if at all—according to a media conference call before Jones’ fight with Teixeira:
I have no interest [in fighting Cain Velasquez] at this point. There’s a lot of talent to test myself against. People are interested in rematch [with Alexander Gustafsson]. Phil Davis said he’s going to crumble me like a cookie. There’s a lot of challenges, and I’m ready to meet them.
Although, fighting in the next weight class is something Jones has spoken about in the past.
Back in January, a fan asked Jones about potentially fighting Velasquez during a Q&A session. Bones had this response:
Yeah for sure, but right now I’m preparing to go into probably the toughest schedule I’ve had. Any of the next three guys, they’re monsters. That’s what I’m preparing for: getting through Glover, Gus again. And I know a lot people wouldn’t agree that I got through him the first time. And DC. So that’s my schedule for now.
Since then, Jones has pummeled Teixeira. He has Gustafsson next on the slate. If the outcome of Bones’ next fight resembles his performance in UFC 172, we could be revisiting this topic sooner rather than later.
After all, continuing to dominate the best of challengers from the light heavyweight realm only strengthens the notion of a potential—and highly anticipated—weight-class switch for Jones.
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